Christ is the Mystery no. 41
God’s Three fold purpose part 7
To live in His people
November 18, 2012
Brian Kocourek
Wednesday evening we spoke from paragraphs 87 through 90
and focused our thoughts on this one statement in particular from paragraph 90
where brother Branham said,
90
Now. Oh, the great revelation now...
Now, to restore back His kinship. To bring back... Now, He had to let them get lost; you understand it? He had to let them
sin, put them on free moral agency. He could not make them sin and remain God
and then punish them for something He made them do. But when He put man on partnership with Him, then let man act as a free
moral agent... See? The same thing
that He's got you on today. See, see? You
act any way you want to; you're a free moral agent. So therefore, if He put
the first like that, He has to put the second like that, He has to put everyone
like that, or He acted wrong in the first place. See? But everybody is on that same basis.
Now, notice he is telling
us that all the way back since Adam and Eve God has put man on free moral
agency, but man always chose that which was contrary to His law, His Word, and
man fell every single time. But now, he says, But when
He put man on partnership with Him, then let man act as a free moral agent. Then
we see how different it is.
We spoke on what it meant for God to put man as a
partner with him. In other Words, when God has given you the Holy Ghost, he has
not only given you God-Life, but as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2 that God gives
you the Holy Ghost that you might know, and understand the things of God.
1
Corinthians 2:7 But
we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God
ordained before the world unto our glory:
And we explained what this hidden Wisdom was which was
ordained for our Glory. Now, this word Glory is translated from the Greek word
“Doxa” which means: the values, opinions,, and judgments” of God. So this
hidden wisdom was hidden from man through the ages, but was revealed to us in
this last hour when all the hidden secrets were revealed at the opening of the
seals. And when we received the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the
knowledge of Himself, we saw and understood who it was that came down in
this hour.
But not only that, because just understanding the
doctrine is not God’s goal at all. But in understanding the doctrine it reveals
to us the relationship that God had with His Son Jesus who is the example seed
as brother Branham called Him.
From his sermon, The Spoken word
original seed 62-0318M P:91 which
br. Billy Paul told me that brother Branham said, that sermon is the entire
Message and if someone wants one Sermon that will give him the entire Message
in one sermon, look no further than that one. That is why we spent three and a
half years studying it, from January 13th 2008, until July 17th,
2011.
And in that sermon brother Branham said in paragraph 91 “Then the
works will be manifested in Him are the same, for it is the same Seed Word of
God. God's Son was His example
Seed. And what His Life was when the Spirit poured upon Him after His
baptism and the Holy Ghost come upon Him,
the very Life that He produced will--that same watering Spirit of the Holy
Ghost will bring forth the same kind of
a Life, doing the same thing that He
did; if it's the same Seed. Son of God Seed will bring forth a Son
of God Seed. Now, shame on you women with bobbed hair. Shame on you preachers denying that Truth.
Say, "It's all right; hair has nothing to do with it." But God said
it did.
Now, notice brother
Branham is talking about the Spirit of God that was in His son Jesus, and he
says, “if that same Life that was in Jesus (the Son of God) did certain things,
then if that same spirit (which is Seed-Life) that was in Him, if that same
seed life is in you, then that same seed life in you will produce in you the
same things that it did in the Original seed Jesus, because He is the example
seed.
Now, that’s what he
said, and to better understand exactly what he meant we must read a few
paragraphs before and after to make sure we are understanding that he is not
just talking about Himself here. He is not just talking about one person doing
the works of Christ. But he is talking about you and I if we have the same
Spirit of God that lived in His Son Jesus.
And that is exactly what the Apostle Paul said in Romans 8:11 But if the Spirit of
him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ
from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth
in you.
Now, we’ve got to understand two things here if we are
understand what he is telling us.
Number 1) when he says, But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus
from the dead dwell in you.
And you must understand Who that Spirit is that raised
Jesus from the dead. And that is what understanding the Godhead is all
about. It is understanding that there is One God and He had a Son and He raised
that Son from the dead. Now, that’s Godhead, and if you don’t understand that
then you will not understand the next part of what he said either. Because he
said if you understand that it was God who raised Jesus from the dead, then you
will also understand that if that same Spirit of God who raised Him up lives in
you also, then while he is living in you He will also be quickening your mortal
body.
Now, point number two is this) The mortal body is the
body you are living in right now. Not the body in the millennium, not the
Glorified body you go to. But that body which you live in right now, we have
this promise that He (the Spirit of the Living God) who has taken up residence
in your body will also quicken or make alive that same mortal body.
Now, I know people say, “I believe it but I just can’t
live it.” And that is right, you can’t live it, but God’s Spirit alive in you
can. And that is not being emphasized in this Message but it has to be if we
are to receive a body change, because the change of the body is our adoption.
Paul said the adoption, to whit the redemption of our body.
Romans
8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits
of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the
redemption of our body.
And when we are
promised that the person who has the Spirit of the Living God living in them,
that persons mortal body will also be quickened which means to come alive.
Now, John explains that In 1 John 3:9 Whosoever is born of God doth
not commit sin; for his seed (God’s
seed) remaineth
in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
Now, sin is unbelief, so that that doesn’t mean that you won’t make
mistakes, that only means you won’t intentionally go out looking to disbelieve.
Now, David didn’t go out trying to find someone to commit adultery with, he
just happened to walk to the castle walls and look down and saw Bathsheba
bathing. Then as the Bible says in James 1:15 Then when lust hath conceived,
it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
You see, the lust was
overwhelming and he got distracted by it, and when he took His eyes off of God
and His Word, the distraction overwhelmed him and he fell from Grace.
Brother Vayle preached a sermon on
this in brother Branham’s church in 1963 showing that the words “doth not sin”
actually means does not initiate sin”. After the service brother
Branham came up to him and told him that his sermon really helped him to better
understand how a man can have the Holy Ghost and still fall into sin.
Now, you can believe
that testimony of not, and it really doesn’t matter to me if you do, because
that doesn’t change the fact that what he taught in Brother Branham’s church is
true. And every son of God who hears that it has to help him in his own walk
with God. It takes off the strain of falling short and backsliding many times a
day, because in our hearts we never want to backslide but even the Apostle Paul
acknowledged himself in
Romans
7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no
good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. 20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that
dwelleth in me. 21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with
me. 22 For I
delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23 But
I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of
sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man
that I am! who shall deliver me from the
body of this death?
25 I thank God
through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law
of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
Then the Apostle Paul goes into that most blessed
chapter of Romans
8 where he lays everything out so well, that if we could just focus
on what he says in there we would have the entire understanding of our Election
and predestination to the adoption of Children.
The problem we have in the churches today
is that the people are not being taught to have an independent walk with God.
Instead they are taught to do what everyone else is doing. And when you do that
you have to first take your eyes off Jesus in order to place them on the others
in the church you attend.
My mother in law used to quote brother
Branham when she would say, “if you let another person get between you and
Christ, they are closer to Christ than you are.” And that is so true. And in
the churches today we see that everywhere. The people focus on the preacher,
and he becomes their mediator between God and man, and when that happens, they
have walked away from God’s Word, because there is only one mediator between
God and man, and that is the man Jesus.
Now, look, I may not always be able to express what is
in my heart to you with the right words, but I do try to get you to focus on
Christ and Him only.
And from his sermon, Balm in
But as I see it, the problem we have in
the churches is that men don’t want to die to self, they like who they are and the
position they’ve attained. But God won’t accept what you’ve got to offer him.
He’ll only accept the life of His son. So if that Life is in you then God
will accept you. But if you have not died to self, that Life will never
enter into you and take over you because you are the one that is in the way.
And with no Christ Life in you, the Bible says “you are none of His”, that is what the Bible tells us.
Let me read from Romans 8 for you as Paul was
continuing in His letter to the Romans, and when we read flesh, I want you to
cross out that word flesh in your bible because when you read it as flesh you
put it off to someone else, or to some form or carnality. But change that word
to self, and you will see a much deeper personal Word from God to you. In Romans 8:5 we read, “For they
that are after self do mind the things of self; but they that are after the
Spirit do mind the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded or self absorbed is death; but to be
spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the carnal mind (the mind that is focused on self) is enmity against God: for it is not subject
to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
O, if ever there were a statement that is so true
it is that one. How can you be focused on the things of God if you are focused
only on yourself? Now, let’s read verse 8.
8 So then they that are living for self cannot please God. 9 But ye are not self focused, but in the Spirit, if so be that the
Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he
is none of his.
And so what Paul is telling
us here is that you can not do this on your own. The only way you can be
focused on God is to have God’s Spirit living in you. Otherwise you can’t help
living for self, because that is the only spirit you have in you is your own
spirit, and thus your focus is on self.
From his sermon, Position in Christ 60-0522M P:79 brother Branham
said, What am I talking
about? Hear It, Branham Tabernacle. You've had your chance. When a man once is anointed with the Holy Ghost,
to be adopted into the family of God, to be positionally placed by the Father,
and set into a service out here, into his purpose of life, or what
God has called him for, his walk must be holy, holy, holy unto the Lord.
12 Therefore,
brethren, we are debtors, not to self, to live after self. 13 For
if ye live afterself, ye shall die: but if ye through
the Spirit do mortify (that means die
to self and) the
deeds of the body, ye shall live. 14 For as many as
are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. 15 For
ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received
the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. 16 The Spirit itself (that’s
God’s Spirit) beareth
witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And how
does God’s Spirit bear witness with our Spirit? He does things in your body
that he did in His sons body. He lives your life for you.
Remember we quoted the Apostle Paul earlier in this
morning, where he said in Romans 8:11 “if the Spirit that raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in
you it will also quicken or make alive your mortal body?”
Well, he’s talking about what will happen in and to
your mortal Body if you just die to self and let the Holy Spirit of God come in
and take over. Well, that’s what he also told us in Philippians 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his
good pleasure.
And we also se this same theme in Hebrews 13:20 Now the God of peace, that brought
again from the dead our Lord Jesus, (You see, this is what he said
in Romans 8:11 because he is talking about the God who raised up Jesus from the
dead. And look what he goes on to say here in Hebrews 13) Now the God of peace, that brought again from
the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of
the everlasting covenant, 21 Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is
well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and
ever. Amen.
And that brings us back to Romans 8:17 After we see God working in
you to will and to do, making alive your mortal body to His very presence
living and breathing in you, “And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and
joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also
glorified together. 18 For I reckon that the
sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory
which shall be revealed in us. 19 For the earnest
expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the
sons of God. 20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not
willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, 21 Because the creature itself also shall be
delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the
children of God. 22 For we know that the whole
creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. 23 And not only they, but
ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the
Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to
wit, the redemption of our body.
And what did that same Spirit do as it lived in Jesus? He said in John 4:34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent
me, and to finish his work.
In John 5:19 “Jesus and said unto
them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do
nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.”
And
in John 5:30 he also
said, I can of mine own self do nothing: as I
hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will,(I
do not live for self) but the will of the Father which hath sent me. 31 If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.
32 There is another that beareth witness of me; and
I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is
true. (and he’s not talking about the witness of other
men, not even John the Baptist. He’s talking about something else bears witness
to Who He is. Then he explains that witness he has is not John the Baptist. He
says,) 33 Ye sent unto John,
and he bare witness unto the truth.
34 But I
receive not testimony from man: but these things I say, that ye might be
saved. 35 He was a burning and a shining light: and
ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light.
36 But I have greater
witness than that of John: for the
works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear
witness of me, that the Father hath sent me. 37 And
the Father himself, which hath sent
me, hath borne witness of me. Ye
have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.
Now, this is what Paul was saying in Romans 8:16 The Spirit itself (that’s God’s Spirit) beareth witness with our spirit, that we are
the children of God:
And how does God’s
Spirit bear witness with your spirit? Jesus said the works that I do shall you do also.
Now, let’s go back to The Spoken Word is the Original Seed
and pick up at paragraph 87 because as I said you have to see what
brother Branham is telling us here to understand really what the importance of
understanding Godhead is all about. It’s not so you can know more than the next
guy. It’s so you can understand that Jesus Christ is the example seed, the
pattern for every son and daughter of God.
And so brother Branham says in paragraph 87 See, the spoken
Word... Then we are God's
Word made manifest. That's how God wants His
church: is to manifest Himself. How can He manifest Himself unless His Own
Seed is in that person? How can
you use your own thoughts and God manifest Himself through you? How can
you take your own belief and say, "Well, my pastor teaches... Myy creed says that this... days of miracles..." How you going to do that and then be a
manifested son of God? How you going to do it? The death of Jesus wasn't
nothing to you. "Oh, I accept Him as my
Saviour." You don't. You say
you do, but you don't. Your works
proves what you are. Jesus said the same thing. "If you think I am
illegitimately born..." They said, "We're Abraham's son and need
nobody to teach us." Said, "If you was Abraham's children, you'd know Me." See? Said, "Which one of you condemns Me of sin (unbelief)? Show Me one thing that God promised of Me that
ain't fulfilled. Show Me one thing that the Father promised that I haven't
fulfilled. (Sin is unbelief.) Let's see
you produce it then." That de-horned them. See? Certainly. Said,
"Who's accusing Me? Who can condemn Me with sin (unbelief)?" See?
"If I don't believe, then why is
the Father doing through Me like He's doing--every Word that He promised?
Now, let Me see where you got it in yours."
88 Who
is illegitimate born then? They were. Illegitimate children professing to be
God's... Jesus said, "You
are of your father, the devil, and his works you do."
What kind of works did the
devil do? try to hybreed the Word of God
through Eve. That's exactly the same thing that these big denominations do
today. The works of the devil, their
father, they do. They're trying to
take a creed and breed it with the Word of God. That's what Satan done in
the beginning--the father, the devil. God bless you, brethren. Come out of it.
Jesus said so. You've got one little scratch of God in you, you ought to look
and see that. Hybrid. Oh, my.
89
The works that Jesus did--if a man has the Seed of God in him with the
Spirit of God watering that Seed, the same works that Jesus--was manifested in
Jesus, Him being the original Seed of God, His death brings you back to the original Seed of
God, and if the same Spirit that was
within Him is in you, then the same works will be manifested. You don't
believe that? All right, let's turn over to
90
What is it? Same seed. Can't
keep... How can you plant wheat here and wheat here and say, "I'm going to get cucumbers here and wheat
here?" You can't do it. The
only way you're going to get cucumbers is plant cucumbers. If you hybreed it,
then it won't be a cucumber. It'll be a hypocrite. Is that right? It'll be a
hypocrite, friends. This... You've got to say it. It isn't neither one. Isn't
cucumber or what you bred it with. It's a crossbreed, and it is a bad product,
and it's dead in itself, and it
can't breed itself back no more. It's dead right there, back, won't go no farther. That
finishes it; that's all. But if you want a cucumber, start with a cucumber. If you want a church, start with the Word
of God. If you want a Life of God,
start with the Word of God. Accept
the Word of God in Its fullness, every measure of It. And then that's...
And if that is the fullness of God in
you, then the rain that's falling will produce exactly what's in your garden.
See? Then now, where's your Latter Rain coming up at? You see where that's
going after while, don't you? Going over with them wild gourds that Elijah got
and thought they were gourds or that, them school of prophets up there, that
denomination they had: gathered some wild gourds and thought they were--they
were peas. Oh, well.
91 “Then
the works will be manifested in Him are
the same, for it is the same Seed Word of God. God's Son was His example Seed. And what His Life was when
the Spirit poured upon Him after His baptism and the Holy Ghost come upon Him, the very Life that He produced will--that
same watering Spirit of the Holy Ghost will bring forth the same kind of a Life, doing the same thing that He did; if it's the same Seed. Son
of God Seed will bring forth a Son of God Seed. Now, shame on you women
with bobbed hair. Shame on you preachers
denying that Truth. Say, "It's all right; hair has nothing to do with
it." But God said it did.
Now, I hope brethren that you are beginning to open up
the eyes of your heart to see that God is wanting little Messiahettes,
offspring just like His first born son Jesus.
Why would God be satisfied to have children who can
just profess a certain doctrine correctly? It’s not about what you know, it’s
about knowing Him. He doesn’t care two bits about what you know or you don’t
know. He wants you to know Him. Like the man that said to William Branham, you
sure don’t know your Bible, but He answered his critic saying, “But I know the
author real well. God isn’t interested if you can know all the mysteries, He
said to know all the mysteries and have not love is
Now, remember, brother Branham said he only preached what Paul preached,
and Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13:2 And
though I have the gift of prophecy, (that’s the gift to preach) and (he continues, “on top of that,
if I have the gift to”) understand all
mysteries, and (on top of that, If I have the gift of
having) all knowledge; (the
gift to know everything) and (on top of that, If) though I
have all faith, so that I could (even) remove mountains, and (yet) have not love, I am nothing.
And this same apostle that said that also said in Galatians 1:8 But though we, or an angel
from heaven, preach any other gospel
unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
So brothers, say it
like Paul said it, and say it like William Branham echoed what Paul said. And
if you do that you will be alright, and you will learn to die to self and allow
God’s Spirit to come in and have the total preeminence in your life. And that
is the second of the three-fold purpose of God, as brother Branham is laying it
out for us to wonderfully in this sermon, “Christ is the Mystery of God Revealed” as he said
in paragraph 78 and 79… He wanted to express Himself. That was His, one of His
great threefold purposes, was to express Himself, identify Himself with human
beings, to reveal Hisself in Christ. 79 Secondly: to have the preeminence in His body of believers, that is, His
Bride, that He might live in people.
Let us bow our heads and our hearts in a word of
prayer…